


Even Better than Napping on the Ground

by SnakeWrangler4



Category: Fire Emblem Series, どうぶつの森 | Animal Crossing Series
Genre: Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-01
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:48:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26236660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SnakeWrangler4/pseuds/SnakeWrangler4
Summary: Punchy mysteriously disappeared a week ago on the island. Marshal is taking some much-needed downtime when he suddenly gets a call late at night...
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	Even Better than Napping on the Ground

**Author's Note:**

> This is my piece from the Seasons of War zine, an Animal Crossing x Fire Emblem crossover collection! I wanted to do something light-hearted after my last Fire Emblem zine, so here's some banter between Punchy and Marshal.
> 
> The whole zine can be found at: https://twitter.com/catzines/status/1299365548191440897?s=19
> 
> I am only so reductive with Fire Emblem tropes because I love the series, don't worry.

A pleasing aroma of coffee filled the quaint house as Marshal finished preparations for his favorite evening activity - candle lit, coffee methodically prepared, book selected, and chair arranged for maximum comfort. Sinking into the plush armchair, he breathed deeply to take in the complimentary scents of the candle and coffee. He had picked out one of his favorites: “After the Rain”, an earthy fragrance to accompany one of his other favorites, an evening dark roast, decaf, with a spoon each of milk and sugar.

He propped up a small radio on the nearby table, switching it on so it could broadcast the soft classical tunes Marshal so enjoyed. The quiet, steady rain outside completed the atmosphere that the posh squirrel sought. Another evening of truly perfect, blissful relaxation. “Moving here was truly one of the best decisions I’ve made yet,” he found himself musing out loud as he cracked open his selected book and settled in for the evening. Goodness knows he needed the relaxation this week.

Before long he found himself lost in the book, its words alongside all the other sensory accompaniments causing time to virtually melt away. It was only when the candle burned out that he returned to reality. With a yawn and a glance at a nearby clock - oh goodness, far later than he usually preferred to stay up - the decision was made to retire for the night. Marshal was sure he’d sleep well tonight. He began to clean up, turning off the radio and shelving the book for further reading the following day.

And then the phone rang.

Marshal nearly dropped the half-full coffee mug.

After the brief scare, the squirrel scowled and begrudgingly picked up the phone, resentment loud and clear in his voice. “This had better be good if you are calling at this hour -”

“Yo man, what’s good?”

Marshal nearly dropped the phone alongside his coffee mug this time. “Punchy?!” The earlier resentment quickly shifted into a mix of concern and disbelief. “Everyone has been looking high and low for you all week! Where on Earth -”

None of this phased the cat on the other end. “Hey Marsh, if ya got time, can you go check if I left my oven on? I’d hate to see my house burned down…” 

“Punchy, WHERE ARE YOU?”

Marshal rarely if ever raised his voice. Punchy took the hint. “Alright, alright, relax, mrmpht. I dunno where I am, but I’m safe and having a good time. That’s what matters, right?”

That did very little to assuage Marshal’s climbing anxieties. Punchy goes missing for a week, vanishing without a trace, and now he calls out of nowhere, the first thing he says being that he doesn’t know where he is?

“Punchy, I… Where are… What… You…” Marshal only stammered, at a loss for how to continue.

The indolent calico shrugged, not that Marshal could see. “I dunno what to tell you. I just woke up in a field one day. Some dude with blue hair swings by and says, ‘Hey, you should come with us,’ I say, ‘Sure why not’ since I sure don’t have anything else goin’ on.”

Marshal frees his hands to rub his temples as he processes all of this, one piece of information at a time. “So all of a sudden you find yourself in an unfamiliar field, that is definitely not our island?”

“Yup.”

“And you encounter a man with blue hair, he asks you to come along, and you do so because you have nothing better to do.”

“Pretty much.”

“And you’re not… Concerned? Frightened? Worried? Any of the above?”

Punchy shrugged again. “Nah. I mean, I was a little at first. But the blue hair guy is chill and I’ve made a bunch of friends already. I stood next to another guy waving a book around for a while and we had a good conversation. Felt a real connection with him, ya know?”

If Marshal pinched the bridge of his nose any harder it was at risk of falling off. “Right, right, connection, yes… That’s good. Do you have any idea how you’re going to get back? We’re sick with worry about you up and disappearing suddenly.” The squirrel paused momentarily. He realized he could hear something in the background. “...Also, what on Earth is going on there? I hear a lot of… clanging and shouting?”

Punchy’s unchanging nonchalance made it nearly impossible to determine the severity of whatever was going on. “Oh, yeah, don’t worry. I plan on finding my way back after the war, is all. Shouldn’t be too long.”

“Right, right, the - THE WAR?"

"Yup. Blue hair dude's a prince or something and he's gotta reclaim his homeland from a 'despotic tyrant,' whatever that means. Sounds rough."

It was at this moment Marshal realized he wasn't sure if he even believed what all was supposedly going on. Sure, that is most definitely Punchy on the other end, no doubt about that. But the sounds of fighting could be faked… Right? Surely that must be it. Just a track from a movie or something. Punchy is pulling a prank, yes. That must be -

Suddenly another, unfamiliar voice came over the line. "Brother Punchy! Please, I have sustained many wounds, I -"

The voice was cut off by a non-committal purr. "Don't worry, mrmpht. I got ya." With that, Marshal heard a swish and some sort of reverberation.

The other voice came again, this time much fuller. "Thank you, Brother Punchy! You are truly a boon to this army!" The sound of clanking metal followed as the voice presumably ran back into the fray.

Oh dear.

That…

Something like that would be significantly harder to fake. A good deal more effort and commitment than Punchy is wont to procure.

Ohhhh dear.

Punchy continued as if nothing happened. "Sorry about that. Get interrupted out there sometimes, but it's no big deal. I just wave this big stick I found at them, then Fwoosh! A light comes out and they're all better. Pretty amazing, right? I barely gotta do anything, it's like magic!"

"Yes, uh, magic, of course, uh, yes…" Marshal could only muster fragments of a sentence in response. He felt like he was rapidly losing his grip on, well, everything. Punchy is gone one day, he calls a week later, talking about waking up in another world, he joins an army, and on top of all of that he finds he can use what sounds like magic to heal people. That's, normal, happens all the time? Yes? Easy to explain to Isabelle and the Island Rep, yes?

"Yo, Marshal? Still there?"

The squirrel was roused from his cascade of questions for reality. "Er, yes, Punchy? Sorry, I was… momentarily distracted."

"I was just tellin' ya to have a good one. I gotta get back to camp, looks like we're done here and we're heading out. I feel another conversation with this book-waving fellow comin' on. I just wanted to see how you were doin'! Tell the suits at home I said hi."

Marshal cleared his throat, largely for his own focus. He puts on his best air of feigned confidence. "Right, yes, of course. Consider it done. Take care, then, Punchy. I look forward to your return."

Punchy gave one last satisfied "mrmpht" before hanging up.

For what fell like hours, Marshal simply held still with the quiet phone, afraid that if he put it down his sense of reality would continue to further unravel. Darkness soon overtook the room, and Marshal realized his candle had burned out. He took that as a sign he needed sleep more than anything.

Begrudgingly disposing of the tragically cold coffee, Marshal finished his bedtime preparations. While normally he would be practically ready to drift off as soon as his head hit the pillow, tonight's conversation had spoiled his blissful routine of relaxation. For much of the night Marshal muttered to himself about all the things he would have to explain to everyone else about Punchy's presumed disappearance. More than once he got out of bed, checking the caller history of his phone to try and confirm it was some especially vivid hallucination or something like that. Maybe it was caused by a bad batch of coffee. But no, clear as day, a call from Punchy earlier that evening. It was going to be a long day tomorrow. Marshal did not get much sleep.

He didn't even think to question how Punchy kept hold of his phone, much less how the phone continued to function.

A part of Marshal realized that asking further questions would only do more harm than good.

… It was going to be more than one long day, wasn't it?

Marshal made a note to himself to purchase more coffee. He would need it.


End file.
